Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales, is presenting a major new three-part S4C series that looks at the life and times of the remarkable 12th century traveller and clergyman Gerald of Wales.
In Ôl Traed Gerallt Gymro (translation: In the footsteps of Gerald of Wales), which starts on S4C on Sunday, 9 January, Dr Morgan goes in search of a man who wanted his job.
Produced by Element Productions, the series discovers why the talented and ambitious Archdeacon of Brecon tried but ultimately failed to become the first Archbishop of Wales and how he became the country’s most famous travel writer.
One of the highlights of the series is an interview between Dr Morgan and Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, where they assess Gerallt’s achievements and failures.
Dr Morgan follows Gerald from West Wales via Llanddew, Brecon, to Rome where he made his case to the Pope for his election as Bishop of St David’s and for the cathedral city itself to become the powerhouse of a new post, Archbishop of Wales.
A history graduate, Dr Morgan is intrigued by Gerald, who advocated the role of Archbishop of Wales seven centuries before the post was finally created in 1920.
“Gerald is a highly complex character,” says Dr Morgan. “He was his own spin doctor long before the term was invented, always showing himself in the best possible light while rubbishing his enemies. In many ways, he was insufferable. Yet he was one of the greatest churchmen of his age, and left a literary legacy which gives us a unique insight into medieval life.”
Gerald was born in Manorbier Castle near Tenby in 1146, at a time when the Normans were attempting to conquer Wales. Three-quarters Norman and one part Welsh, he was torn between the two cultures throughout his life.
What is remarkable is that, in championing St David’s against Canterbury, Gerald was taking on not only the ecclesiastical establishment but the might of the English monarchy.
Yet while rebelling against the establishment, Gerald was also an establishment figure. It was while recruiting men for the king’s Third Crusade that Gerald wrote his Latin classics, ‘The Description of Wales’ and the ‘Journey Around Wales’.
The texts show Gerald to have been a keen observer of medieval society, even commenting on how the Welsh kept their teeth cleaner than any other race by using hazel twigs as a kind of dental floss.
Gerald was an enthusiastic and energetic traveller, not only around Wales but throughout Europe. At a time when most pilgrims were grateful to have visited Rome once in their lifetime, Gerald made the journey four times in five years. The series reconstructs the pilgrim’s journey from the British Isles to Rome.
The story of Gerald’s travels sounds like a James Bond novel. He had to leave Britain hidden in a boat as the Archbishop of Canterbury had placed a ban on him leaving the country. He slept under a boat all night to evade the Archbishop’s spies on the other side of the English Channel, and was pursued out of Rome by creditors after he had run out of money.
Ôl Traed Gerallt Gymro
Sunday 9 January 20:30, S4C
English and Welsh subtitles
Also Wednesday 12 January 22:00, S4C with on-screen English subtitles
Website: s4c.co.uk/factual
On demand: s4c.co.uk/clic
An Element Productions production for S4C
